Australia news LIVE: RBA set to lift interest rates to highest point since 2008 sparking recession fears; PM warns of increasing dangers to democracies at Commonwealth summit

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At least 24 people killed as Russia bombs Ukrainian village

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Russian forces bombed a school in a village in Ukraine’s south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, killing 24 people, Ukraine’s emergency services said.

The emergency services said two members of a rescue crew were among the dead in the village of Komyshuvakha.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on Telegram on Monday (Tuesday morning AEDT), said Russian forces initially dropped aerial bombs on a school in the village, used for distributing humanitarian assistance.

“After the first air strike, there was a repeat strike with nine more bombs, directly on the shelter where people were gathered,” Zelensky wrote.

Two trainers behind half the field starting in Melbourne Cup

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Whichever horse wins the Melbourne Cup this afternoon, there’s a good chance it was trained by Ciaron Maher.

The former jockey turned Cup-winning trainer has seven horses starting at Flemington this afternoon, including favourite Point of Law, the UK thoroughbred which rocketed into contention after an impressive Geelong Cup victory.

Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has five runners, including Trustyourinstinct.

The two have trained half the 24-horse field between them.

The race that stops the nation takes place at 3pm today.

Read more: He used to ride bulls. Now Ciaron Maher takes calls from the King and has seven Cup runners

Rates could reach 18-year high on Reserve Bank decision

By Shane Wright

The Reserve Bank is being warned it could drive Australia into a recession and leave tens of thousands of people out of work with a Melbourne Cup Day interest rate rise that will lift pressure on Treasurer Jim Chalmers to cut deeper into government spending.

Financial markets and most economists expect the RBA to lift official interest rates on Tuesday afternoon to an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent in a bid to quell inflation that has sat above the bank’s 2-3 per cent target band for most of the past four years.

An increase on Tuesday would be the fifth this year. On a 30-year $600,000 mortgage, monthly repayments will have increased by a cumulative $500 if the Reserve moves on the cash rate.

But there are growing concerns such an aggressive tightening in monetary policy will slow the economy and push people out of work.

The Reserve Bank has played a part in past recessions, most infamously in the 1990-91 downturn ahead of which the RBA had pushed official interest rates to 17 per cent. Unemployment reached 11 per cent during that recession.

Read more: The rate rise that stops the economy? Fears of an RBA-induced recession

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